The present invention relates to a system and structure for attaching one element to another, the system providing a set of flat plates that are connected together in such a fashion that they may be easily released, then snapped back together in a self aligning manner. The system is are particularly useful in connecting the base of a cellular telephone to its support.
A variety of different structures have been developed for releasably connecting one element to another. Some of these structures consist of two flat plates that interfit in such a fashion that they may be interconnected and released as desired. For example, one such structure which has been developed to attach a cellular telephone to its base consists of two interfitting plates that include, on one plate, upstanding bosses and on the other plate pockets to receive the bosses to assist in aligning the plates as they are being interfitted. One plate also includes an upstanding centrally located T-shaped stud, the head of the T projecting through an opening in the other plate to be captured, when it is desired to attach the two plates to one another, by moving a slide from a first position to a second position, the slide in the first position permitting the head of the stud to move through the opening, while in the second position capturing the head of the stud in that opening. Thus, by moving the slide back and forth it is possible to connect the two plates together, or to release the two plates from one another, as desired. One of these plates may be attached to the base of a cellular telephone, and the other to a base or mounting plate for supporting the cellular telephone. Thus, to release the cellular telephone from the mount the plates may be disengaged from one another by moving the slide in an appropriate direction. When it is desired to reattach the plates to one another the user places the two plates together again, then moves the plate back into a position to capture the head of the stud in the opening.
A significant deficiency of such a releasable connector system is that the plates may not be reconnected simply by snapping them together. Instead, the user is required to make sure that the slide is in the correct orientation to permit two plates to be reconnected, then after the plates are interfitted to move the slide from this first (or open) orientation to the orientation in which the head of the stud is captured to reconnect the plates.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a snap release attachment system or structure that consists of two interfitting plates and which permits the two plates, when separated, to be reengaged with one another simply by pressing them together; it is not necessary for the user to move any slide from a first to a second position to reattach the plates. Another object of the present invention is to provide such a snap release attachment system that permits the user to separate the two plates by momentarily depressing a catch. A third object of the present invention is to provide a simple, economically manufactured snap release attachment system. A further object of the present invention is to provide such a system in which the plates may be connected, or reconnected, with one another in either of at least two orientations, for example two orientations in which the plates turned 180 degrees with respect to one another. Other objects of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment.